海角大神

Talk about hot.

Climate change has been cited as the cause behind a raft of recent phenomena, from increasing on planes to rising of malaria, dengue, and even domestic abuse.

And now it鈥檚 hit the publishing world.

The next hot trend in books, it turns out isn鈥檛 Fifty Shades-esque erotica 鈥� it鈥檚 climate change.

That鈥檚 according to a fascinating report by , 鈥淗as Climate Change Created a New Literary Genre?鈥�

鈥淥ver the past decade, more and more writers have begun to set their novels and short stories in worlds, not unlike our own, where the Earth's systems are noticeably off-kilter,鈥� reports Angela Evancie for NPR. 鈥淭he genre has come to be called climate fiction 鈥� 'cli-fi,' for short.鈥�

Among the titles in this emerging literary genre is 鈥淥dds Against Tomorrow,鈥� by Nathaniel Rich, a novel about a futurist who calculates worst-case scenarios for corporations, including the very scenario that landed on the book鈥檚 cover: the Manhattan skyline, half-submerged in water. (We should note, the book, and cover, were created before Hurricane Sandy.)听

Other books include Michael Crichton鈥檚 2004 novel, 鈥淪tate of Fear,鈥� about ecoterrorists; Ian McEwan鈥檚 鈥淪olar,鈥� about impending environmental disaster; and Barbara Kingsolver鈥檚 鈥淔light Behavior,鈥� about a world turned upside down by climate change.

There are two key points to emphasize in this trend. Cli-fi describes a dystopian present, as opposed to a dystopian future, and it isn鈥檛 non-fiction or even science fiction: cli-fi is about literary fiction.

As interesting as this new development is, we shouldn鈥檛 be too surprised. After all, whether it鈥檚 the Industrial Revolution, the Cold War, or the tech bubble, cultural and environmental milestones have historically shaped the world we 鈥� and by extension, the characters we read about 鈥� live in.聽

In this case, literature might actually prove to be a surprise secret weapon of sorts, helping scientists convey the issue to disinterested 鈥� or dubious 鈥� audiences.

That鈥檚 because 鈥渨hen novelists tackle climate change in their writing, they reach people in a way that scientists can't,鈥� says NPR.

"You know, scientists and other people are trying to get their message across about various aspects of the climate change issue," Judith Curry, professor and chair of Georgia Institute of Technology's School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, tells NPR. "And it seems like fiction is an untapped way of doing this 鈥� a way of smuggling some serious topics into the consciousness" of readers who may not be following the science.

We鈥檙e fascinated by this emerging genre and if one cli-fi writer is on the mark, we鈥檒l be seeing a lot more of it in coming years.

Predicted Daniel Kramb, the cli-fi novelist behind 鈥淔rom Here,鈥� the 2012 novel about climate change activists, 鈥淚 think when [people] look back at this 21st century ... they will definitely see climate change as one of the major themes in literature, if not the major theme.鈥�

Husna Haq is a Monitor correspondent.